My close friend, Anthony, found his dream job a few months ago. I still remember his glowing email thanking me for supporting him.  It made me feel good. But, as fate would have it, he sent a new email this week that didn’t have such a happy tone.  Alas, his joy was interrupted after sufficient time to interact with his boss.  I can tell you that there is very little in the workplace that can be worse than a bad boss.  Anthony is now in the horrible situation of suffering under a bad boss.  We are now assessing his situation and trying to figure out his best move.  My brother, Chad, has a good saying for this situation; that is, ‘the only thing worse than having a job is not having one.’

To help you assess whether or not you are living under the command of a bad boss, I’ve created a checklist for you to use in your evaluation.  Thanks to my friends and LinkedIn connections for their help in compiling this list.  Don’t forget to review the tips at the bottom to see how you can handle a bad boss.  You really have only 3 options: stay and fight, leave or wait it out.  In any case, it’s difficult.  Don’t be afraid to reach to friends, family and consultants like myself for help.  The common misconception is that the bad boss is the exception.  I suggest that the good boss is really the exception, not the norm.  According to workplace researchers Sharon Jordan-Evans and Beverly Kaye, when people quit, they don’t leave a company, they leave a bad boss. Surveys show that up to 75% of employees who leave their jobs do so at least in part because of their manager.

Here is the checklist.  If you use it, send me your results.  I want to collect statistics on these that I can share with everyone.

THE BAD BOSS CHECKLIST

□ Loves brownnosers, tattletales, and relatives who report to them. They choose favorite employees and cover up and make excuses for the poor work of their incompetent favorites. They ignore selected people and discriminate against many employees.  A CareerBuilder survey which spoke to 4,000 workers found that 25% of them accused their supervisor of playing favorites. 

□ Fails to communicate, and may not even have, expectations, timelines or goals. Bad bosses change their minds frequently leaving employees off-balance. Bad bosses change expectations and deadlines frequently.

□ Use disciplinary measures inappropriately when simple, positive communication would correct the problem. Bad bosses ignore employees until there is a problem, then pounce.

□ Speak loudly, rudely, one-sidedly to staff. Bad bosses don't provide the air time for staff to respond to accusations and comments. They intimidate people and bully staff. They allow other employees to bully employees.

□ Take credit for the successes and positive accomplishments of employees. They are equally as quick to blame employees when something goes wrong.

□ Fail to provide rewards or recognition for positive employee performance.   They want the accolades for themselves.

□ Is not qualified for the boss job by either skills or experience, despite their own opinion of their abilities.  They may have bought into their own BS.

□ Will not let go of problems or mistakes. The bad boss returns to discuss negative events continually and searches for faults in employees.

□ Will not accept constructive feedback and suggestions for improvement. The bad boss can't deal with disagreement from employees who have their own opinions about work related issues.

□ Will not accept an intellectual challenge.  They are the boss and feel that their knowledge got them to their current position, so they must be really smart.  In CareerBuilder’s survey, 40% of respondents said their company’s leadership team didn’t listen to employees or try to raise morale.  Go team!

□ Lacks integrity, breaks promises, and is dishonest.

□ Has never had management training.  In a CareerBuilder survey, most bosses say they had never received any management training before becoming managers.  The survey also found  that 26% of managers were skeptical about their ability to manage when first hired. They were particularly concerned about being able to deal with issues between co-workers.

□ Use their own network to create performance reviews of their ‘undesirable’ employees so that they get the outcome they want.
□ Does not have the courage to deal with a difficult situation despite knowing that it is the right thing to do.

□ Blames everybody all the time for things they do not even know about; the fact they do not know how the business works, makes them blame others for their lack of knowledge.
□ Manages to have a work environment so stressful that nobody has the least amount of motivation to work.
□ Micromanages everything, including things they know nothing about.

□ Assigns their own tasks to others because he doesn’t have the skills to complete them.

□ Fails to make a decision.  After all, you can’t be hung by a bad decision if you don’t make any decisions at all.

How to deal with bad bosses

The most common method for dealing with bad bosses is to leave the job.  Most leave the company, while a few manage to find other positions within the company.  If you have the unfortunate opportunity to work for one of these gifts to business, here are a few ways you can deal with them.

•  Communicate - make him the decision maker on all and any issue, overload him with relevant and non relevant information, asking before doing something, until he grows tired and relaxes.

•  Document – make sure you document all decisions and discussions, including the one-on-one conversations with your boss.  Also, build a file of all of your good work, including email kudos from coworkers, other managers, industry pros, etc.

•  Form alliances – If you can’t stand your boss, consider developing relationships with those above and around him.  They’ll see you for who you really are and may give you good reviews when it’s performance review time.

•  Play along – I’ll admit that it’s a sick game but no one seems to want to end it.  So if you like your
job and the other people you work with, you may need to play the game.  Keep a positive attitude and support your boss.  Sure they may be an idiot, but they are the boss and have the power to send you home permanently.  Take your pick.

•  Inform – make sure you provide your boss with details on everything you are doing.  If they don’t
know the business, they’ll never be able to figure out what you do.  That could be a problem for you but not if you are constantly providing them insight to what you are doing.  Email is usually the best method.  You may also create your own weekly or monthly status report on your activities.  A boss should know what their people are doing.  So what if you have to help them figure out what that is.

•  Wait – a real jerk won’t remain in a management position too long.  Also, the rate at which companies change today means you will most likely see change in 6 to 12 months anyhow.  Hopefully, this change will give you an opportunity to move.  Stay in tuned with organizational changes as that is where your opportunities lie.

As you know, bad bosses are here to stay.  It’s an evil we all are aware, yet no one will make any effort to combat the problem.  With politics reigning supreme in many companies, there may never be a solution.  How else can a low performer compete with high performers?  It’s not the end of the world for you though.  In my model of career success, environment is a huge factor that many of us neglect.  We often stay in an unrewarding company or position because we don’t think we can find a better one.  That’s a career limiting state of mind.  Greater success is achieved by putting yourself in a supportive, rewarding environment.  Stay tuned for my next book and I’ll show you exactly what that type of environments looks like.